Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh reborn in the West Bank, Gaza Strip

Palestinians are naming their newborns Shireen after Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by an Israeli sniper yesterday morning in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

Jamal Harbi Omran from the town of Burin, north of the city of Nablus, named his daughter Shireen, saying: “We woke up to the news of the Al Jazeera correspondent being martyred, and two hours later, my wife was scheduled for a caesarean birth at Rafidia Hospital, and the new-born was a girl, whom I named Shireen.”

He said that he felt the loss of something great in his life, after learning of Abu Akleh’s death, adding: “We have become used to hearing her voice for years, especially during Israel’s invasion of the West Bank [2002].”

He said that naming his daughter Shireen was a part of his “self-consolation after this great loss.”

READ: Israel is trying to exonerate itself after murdering journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

Omran hopes that his daughter will grow up and study media, to be a journalist like Abu Akleh.

Thaer Dwaikat, a merchant from Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, also named his new arrival Shireen. “We were brought up hearing the voice of Shireen Abu Akleh. We followed her from the beginning of the Intifada [2000] until her martyrdom.”

Al Jazeera and the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of deliberately targeting Shireen Abu Akleh.

Born in Jerusalem in 1971, Abu Akleh has been a correspondent for Al Jazeera since 1997. She also holds American citizenship.